Why is my power out right now?

First: is it just you?

Check your breaker panel for a tripped main, and look at your neighbors' homes. If they have power and you don't, the problem may be your service line or panel — report it to your utility either way. If the block is dark, it's an outage: type your address into our tracker to see how many customers are affected around you and the current restoration outlook.

The usual causes

Weather does the most damage — wind and falling trees, ice on lines, lightning, and heat that strains the grid: in 2024, major events such as Hurricanes Beryl, Helene and Milton accounted for 80% of the hours US electricity customers spent without power, the EIA reports. Equipment failure (transformers, underground cable) happens without any storm. Animals interfering with equipment are another cause: utilities reporting to the American Public Power Association's outage tracker logged 3,456 squirrel-caused outages in 2016 alone. Vehicle crashes into poles take out circuits locally. And some outages are planned maintenance your utility scheduled; SMUD, for one, says those are often, but not always, announced in advance.

Rolling blackouts are different

During extreme grid stress (heat waves, deep freezes), grid operators may order deliberate outages that rotate from area to area to protect the grid. Rotating spreads the outages around, but they can recur, and in a severe shortage they may not rotate at all: in the February 2021 freeze in Texas and the South Central US, a joint report by federal energy regulators and grid reliability staff found that some utilities could not rotate their outages, so the same customers stayed out for many hours or even days. Our tracker flags likely rotation patterns when we detect areas cycling on and off.

When to call 911

A downed power line is a 911 call: the Red Cross says to stay at least 35 feet away from fallen power lines and anything they are touching, and to call 911. Treat every line as live, and never touch anyone who is in contact with one. Report outages themselves to your utility, using the outage number on your bill.

Just your house? Work the checklist

If the main breaker (or any breaker) has tripped, the Red Cross advises having an electrician inspect it before you turn it back on. Test GFCI outlets (kitchen/bath/garage): a GFCI receptacle can also protect the outlets further "downstream" on its circuit, the CPSC notes, so one that has tripped can leave other outlets dead too.

Look (from the ground, without touching) at the meter and the mast where the line meets your house: if it's pulled away, bent, or the line sags, stay clear and call the utility — that hardware is never yours to touch. At Otter Tail Power, for one, the service line and meter are the utility's, while a damaged weatherhead, service mast or meter box is the customer's, for a licensed electrician to fix before power can be safely restored. Partial power — lights suddenly very bright in part of the house and dim in another, or working in one part and not another — is worth a call too: EWEB, Eugene's utility, tells customers who have it to check for a tripped breaker first and, if that doesn't bring the power back, to turn off the main breaker and call to report a partial outage.

Blinks vs. outages

A flicker that comes right back is a complete but momentary outage, and EWEB explains that it generally means the system is working as it should: a fault such as a tree or branch touching a line, and equipment that automatically shuts off power to isolate the problem before it causes a longer outage affecting more customers. If your power keeps flashing on and off, report it — SMUD asks customers to call its outage line when that happens.

Planned and safety shutoffs

Utilities also turn power off on purpose: scheduled maintenance (often, though not always, announced in advance) and, in some regions, public-safety power shutoffs during extreme fire weather, where lines are de-energized so they can't spark a fire. After a safety shutoff, power comes back only once the dangerous weather has passed and crews have checked the lines: PG&E, for one, patrols and inspects its lines for damage before it restores power. Your utility's alerts are the authoritative source for both.

Reporting it well

Report through your utility's app, site, or outage line even if you assume neighbors already have — FirstEnergy, for one, says its system works best when it receives plenty of information to analyze. Mention hazards explicitly (line down, tree on line, burning smell): SMUD puts situations where public safety is at risk, like downed power lines and poles, first, and a downed line is a 911 call first.

Reading the outage map like a pro

The shape of an outage hints at its cause. One home: your service line, mast, or panel. A few houses on one street: a tap line or a single transformer. A neighborhood-sized block: a distribution circuit or the automatic switch that protects it. A whole region at once: transmission or a substation — bigger fix, but the highest-priority crews. Your area's page shows how many customers are out in your county (and your city, where the utility publishes that detail) — a rough guide to how big the outage is.

A note on scam calls

After big storms, the FTC warns, scammers pose as the utility and may promise to restore your service faster if you pay — they won't. Verify anything surprising by contacting your utility at the number on your bill or on its website.

How restoration actually proceeds

Utilities restore in a deliberate order — see our guide to how power restoration works — which is why two streets can come back hours apart.